Spanish multinational banking group BBVA has become the largest financial institution to take part in the Hyperledger Project, a cross-industry blockchain collaborative with open-source principles that has been started by the Linux Foundation.

Last week, the banking group announced that BBVA becomes a member of the Linux Foundation. As such, BBVA will have to representatives in the Hyperledger initiative.

The banking group stated that it will “share code, knowledge and expertise with open-source communities”.

“Being a Hyperledger partner is an important step forward in BBVA’s blockchain strategy. [This] allows us to participate in the most relevant open-source communities in the industry and collaborate with companies from a wide range of sectors.”, elaborated Carlos Kuchkovsky, technology chief for new digital business at BBVA.

The BBVA has taken interest in blockchain-based innovation. In late 2015, the banking group hosted a FinTech competition.

The bank has recently published a report that researched the blockchain technology.

The report named “Blockchain in Financial Services: Regulatory Landscape and Future challenges for its Commercial Application” was an evaluation made by Javier Sebastián, Digital Regulation Manager at BBVA who reflected on the regulatory challenges that the technology still needs to deal with, according to a publication in bbva.com.

As for the Hyperledger Project, it is also seeing interest from potential new members. The participants are totaling 129 after BBVA took part. Some of the other latest members ate China Jiangsu Huaxin Blockchain Research Institure, Colored Coins, The Blockchain Research Institute, VSP Global and others, wrote hyperledger.org.

“It’s very exciting to have two forward thinking organizations with high aspirations and a will to change the world come together, joining forces for the greater common good. Our team from JBI is delighted to be a part of Hyperledger community. We look forward to collaborating and making this world a brighter place through blockchain.”, said JBI Executive Director of Global Operations, Michael Yeung as quoted by Hyperledger`s press release.

It is interesting to note that the Hyperledger Project is different from other blockchain consortiums because it has a big number of Chinese members, more specifically over 25%. There is a strong interest in the region and therefore the Hyperledger Project encourages the interaction between global members and local contributors in mainland China.